JAN KNIGHT DESIGNS

All the things I love to see and do. Fabric, Threads and other lovely things.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO

I know.....it's been a long time but I HAVE been busy! Ü Thought I would show you some of the things I've been working on recently. Gatton Quilters are having an exhibition at the Regional Gallery of some of our art quilts and they will be on display for the month of June. Robyn Ginn is opening the exhibit on the 8th June I think it is. Robyn is an old friend and, of course, is very well known for her absolutely beautiful applique quilts.

I've just completed the work on a reef embroidery and just have to finish it off to be ready to hang now. I've only got some close-ups at this stage. It's been a while in my head as my daughter Kirsten designed her graduation dress way back in 2000 I think it was. It's taken all this time for her to let me cut into it. The overlay was silk georgette and my friend Sandra helped me hand dye it (or SHOULD I say that I helped Sandra!) from a very dark blue at the bottom through the colours of the sea to a light aqua at the top. Kirsten wanted an underwater theme to the dress as well an asymmetric hem that formed into a small train. It had a low back with rouleau draped across it. I beaded these and add some small shells. She looked beautiful on the night!

I wanted to keep that draped look and have it hang below the embroidery. It's going to be a challenge to finish it off.

Part of the background on the the left of this closest pic is a piece of tanned barramundi skin. Really easy to work with and adds to the piece I think!

Will show you a pic when I get it ready for hanging. I thoroughly enjoy working on my reef embroideries and don't try to actually replicate a reef rather than stitch my "fantasy" of it.

This next piece I'm showing you all is what our art quilt group is working on this year. We've called it "Fragments" and once we've picked a photograph we blow it up to A3 size. It then gets cut into strips approximately 2in wide. The aim is for each person to reproduce the strip to the exact dimensions, using whatever techniques we choose. I was lucky???? enough to get the portion with the most work in it of course! lol I used all sorts of techniques and used some silk rods I had for the piece of driftwood and painted it with some dye to get to the right colour. My strip for next time is going to be a real challenge! Wait until you see it. Ü

I've also been working on quite a few projects for the magazine but can't show them of course. It's all keeping me busy which is how I like it. Until next time which I hope won't be as long! Until then, bye for now.

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Welcome to my blog and I hope you enjoy reading my entries. I'm going to try to be informative and helpful as well as interesting to everyone.I live in a wonderful part of the world where there is much inspiration from my surroundings as well as the people around me.

About Me

I'm in my lateish fifties and love all things textile. I am a designer and have had lots of projects published in magazines as well as marketing my designs in the patchwork/applique/quilting field retail and wholesale. Also love music, reading and sharing my time with family and friends. My two greatest achievements are my children - Kirsten and Matthew.